EDITOR'S CHOICE -- SCOTT SUTTELL

Air traveler exercises his right to exercise

Blog Entry: May 02, 2013 1:26 PM | Author: SCOTT SUTTELL

Canton native Christopher Berger, 42, an exercise physiologist and professor at the University of Indianapolis, is on something of a crusade to persuade frequent flyers to pack a pair of walking shoes for their trips.

The New York Times profiles Dr. Berger, complete with a shot of him walking through Akron-Canton Airport. He sees the delays common at airports as opportunities to move and relieve stress. Where “some see an interminable wait, he sees an invigorating walk,” the newspaper says.

“What I try to promote with my interest in air travel is the simple fact that flying can be healthy,” Dr. Berger tells The Times. “Travel does not mean deconditioning. You're stuck in a terminal for three hours, boo hoo, but you have a climate-controlled place where you can walk literally for miles at some airports if you want.”

As chairman of the American College of Sports Medicine task force on healthy air travel, Dr. Berger “enthusiastically delivers his Exercise on the Fly public health pitch to colleagues, airport managers, travel industry officials and anyone else who will listen,” according to the profile.

He “urges airport managers to develop signs and promotional materials to encourage walking,” The Times says. “He talks about the surprising number of airports that are adjacent to public parks and pedestrian paths, easily reachable during layovers. He points out that terminals themselves are big enough to create your own indoor walking path.”

Dr. Berger sure practices what he preaches. From the story:

In March, while on a long layover in Phoenix during a trip from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, he put together his own airport marathon. Arriving in Phoenix, he bounded off the plane, got on the PHX Sky Train and took it to the Metro Light Rail connection. He caught a train to Tempe, where he disembarked and walked to Arizona State University's aquatic center.

There, he enjoyed an hour-long swim, did a bit of sunbathing, showered, dried off his swim trunks with a hair dryer in the locker room (he had worn his swimsuit under his business clothes), dressed and headed back to the airport, in plenty of time to go through security again for his connecting flight.

He ran track in high school in Canton, so Dr. Berger had the exercise bug early in life.

Investors should vote for Quinpario Partners CEO Jeffry Quinn and FrontFour Capital Group co-founder David Lorber, ISS said in a new report, according to Bloomberg. (Quinpario and FrontFour have said they hold 4.3% of Ferro shares.) ISS didn't recommend a vote for a third open seat on the nine-member board of Mayfield Heights-based Ferro.

“The dissidents have articulated a strong case that change on (Ferro's) board is warranted,” ISS said. Ferro has underperformed peer companies and its board “appears not to have given due regard to a very real initial indication of interest from a potential acquirer,” according to ISS.

Shareholders are set to vote at a May 15 meeting.

In a statement responding to the report, Ferro said, “While we are pleased that ISS recognizes that FrontFour Group nominee Nadim Qureshi does not merit election to Ferro's board of directors, we strongly believe that ISS reached the wrong conclusion in failing to recommend that shareholders elect all of the company's highly qualified and experienced nominees. We reiterate our board's unanimous recommendation that shareholders vote 'FOR' all of the company's nominees.”

On second thought … Big banks aren't crazy about the Sen. Sherrod Brown/Sen. David Vitter bill that calls for banks with more than $500 billion in assets to have capital reserves of 15%, but the measure probably would be good for them, according to this analysis from Dealbook.

The banks so far have argued the bill is a “punishment” that would render American banks “uncompetitive” and lead to future financial crises.

Dealbook sees that as unlikely.

From the analysis:

Goldman Sachs and S&P estimate the big banks might be forced to raise $1 trillion or more. That's a lot, so much that the leviathans' agents cry out that they couldn't sell that much stock. But they don't have to raise it all at once. And they can retain their earnings and stop paying dividends in addition to selling shares.

In putting that argument forward, they don't realize they make Sen. Brown's and Sen. Vitter's case for them. If investors are so terrified of the big banks that they won't buy their stock, that's a terrific problem. Most of the big banks trade below their net worth, an indication that investors don't trust them. Brown-Vitter might actually help banks by restoring that trust.

Hitting is catching on: Catchers in Major League Baseball “have quietly become significant contributors to their teams' offense, surpassing all positions players other than first basemen, left fielders and right fielders by one important measure” — and the Cleveland Indians' Carlos Santana is at the head of the pack.

The Wall Street Journalnotes that while catchers with exceptional defensive skills have been in vogue in recent years, this season is seeing an offensive rebirth at the position.

Through Monday's games, catchers had a collective .727 OPS (that's on-base plus slugging percentages) compared with a .724 OPS for all non-pitchers.

Mr. Santana leads the way with a 1.141 OPS, followed by the Colorado Rockies' Wilin Rosario, who's at 1.023. A number above .900 is All-Star level performance; anything above 1 is Hall of Fame territory — provided the player can do it for 12 to 15 years.

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